Throwing a punch shakes my vision and causes headaches

[Pranaman]

When I throw a punch, it feels like my skin ripples up my body and then shakes my eyes. It causes headaches. My head is probably shaking but when I try to keep it still the same thing happens. maybe if I strengthen my neck muscles? Do you know what could help?

[goldisheavy]

When I throw a punch, it feels like my skin ripples up my body and then shakes my eyes. It causes headaches. My head is probably shaking but when I try to keep it still the same thing happens. maybe if I strengthen my neck muscles? Do you know what could help?

 

First, I suggest to discontinue immediately for the time being. If you ignore this, it can develop into something worse. That's just a temporary safety precaution. Later you can resume punching when you learn how to punch better.

 

Second, punch at 10% power and slower. Is it OK? If not, punch at 1% power. Find a point where punching feels OK or good. Then gently and gradually increase power and find where it just begins to feel not-OK. Observe yourself very very carefully, in a relaxed manner. Observant calm. Allow yourself to see and feel. What is happening? Why is it beginning to be not-OK now? You will see why.

 

Doing this you will kill two birds with one stone. Not only will you know how to fix your punch, but you'll also know how to fix all your other problems later on.

 

Most important is to never keep repeating something that goes wrong, because then you develop a wrong habit. If something feels wrong, it's best to discontinue it and to find the right way to do it, and then train that. You never want to train a bad pattern into memory -- be this pattern physical or psychological.

[Aetherous]

Are you hitting a bag?

 

If not, I like what Tim Cartmell says in the book Nei Jia Quan...

 

"In Chinese terminology, you can't Fa Jing, or emit force, out into nothing. By definition, you can't have force without resistance...

 

...Fa means to issue, Jing is trained force. People can't Fa Jing into the air. What they're actually doing is developing force and hitting themselves with it by tensing up and jerking back...

 

...You Fa Jing into a pad or a bag or somebody else."

[Pranaman]

Are you hitting a bag?

 

If not, I like what Tim Cartmell says in the book Nei Jia Quan...

 

no bag, want get one though.

[thelerner]

If punching is causing health issues, stop, or experiment with softer techniques. Also, check your blood pressure. Your grip and muscle tension might be spiking it. A doctor is best, but many large chain drug stores have blood pressure machines (walgreens I know does). check it, then punch and check again, see if its spiked much higher.

 

I'm just guessing at a possible cause, but what you describe could be serious. Take time to find the cause.

 

Yours

 

Michael

[Pranaman]

thanks all.

 

and I forgot to mention, my daily punching drills starts out slower than taiji, then slowly accelerates to full speed, then mixing up speeds. From slow to medium speed there is no jerking around of my vision. full speed is different. i'll post back after my drills tonight.

Edited March 16, 2009 by Pranaman

[fiveelementtao]

When I throw a punch, it feels like my skin ripples up my body and then shakes my eyes. It causes headaches. My head is probably shaking but when I try to keep it still the same thing happens. maybe if I strengthen my neck muscles? Do you know what could help?

 

Are you trained in any martial art or are you experimenting with your own techniques? It is always best to have a live teacher to train with.... I would seek out live help or you could really mess yourself up.

[Pranaman]

Are you trained in any martial art or are you experimenting with your own techniques? It is always best to have a live teacher to train with.... I would seek out live help or you could really mess yourself up.

 

I had a teacher for a few months. I will try lightly punch, if I can't fix the mechanics then I'll quit and just do baseline, standing, and form till I am back with teacher.

[gendao]

When I throw a punch, it feels like my skin ripples up my body and then shakes my eyes. It causes headaches. My head is probably shaking but when I try to keep it still the same thing happens. maybe if I strengthen my neck muscles? Do you know what could help?

Post a video of yourself punching.

PHt0JYfgVGY

[rain]

the "rippling" should be in your tusch not your neck

[Mak_Tin_Si]

I have been practising kungfu for a long time, which I have also encounted this problem long long time ago. Then I fixed it already because I found out the problem.

 

Now the problem shall be because the punching is not "controlled"

 

When you punch, the fist shall be held in medium strength and when you reach the target end point, you must squeeze the fist and HOLD the whole hand, arm, fist all that and not let it "shake" or even "vibrate". After the short hold, relax immediately. This shall happen in a very short period, so you do not hold for longer than 1sec. "relax" means just to relax the fist, arm and elbow etc,. not to go down in the bed...!!!

 

Try and see if this helps.

 

If you are doing wingchun and get this problem, then it shall be because of the elbow shaking while you punch and hit. Which you need to really seek for a new teacher because the teacher must be doing it wrong.

 

If you are doing other forms like shaolin, taichi, hung gar, etc,. then my above suggestions shall work out.

[Mal]

and I forgot to mention, my daily punching drills starts out slower than taiji, then slowly accelerates to full speed, then mixing up speeds. From slow to medium speed there is no jerking around of my vision. full speed is different.

 

Could you be locking out your joints? i.e. running full speed into the "end" of your range of motion? I don't train your art but I doubt your structure should be fully extended.

 

Full extention with some structure will shake everything and it's not particularly healthy for your tendons and joints. Can happen a bit when practicing faster than you can control in the air i.e. without a bag or opponent stopping you from overextending. You would also notice it if you were hitting a bag or opponent and it/they suddenly were a bit further away then you anticipated.

 

Try investigating between the medium and fast speeds when the jerking arises and see if anything is changing / different.

 

Let us know how you go.

[Jedi777]

see a Dr!

[steve]

the "rippling" should be in your tusch not your neck

An impeccably concise summary of internal Chinese martial arts!

[rain]

An impeccably concise summary of internal Chinese martial arts!

 

yey. thanks xuesheng. thinking is one thing doing is another. spectrum and scotty have already seen me quite different doing Max* bagua and spontaneous qigong..so for you; the subluxed bag-uah lady having fun after first kickboxing class.

lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoUb-4U-J58

Edited March 22, 2009 by rain

[Mal]

Nice stuff, thanks.......please never get angry at me you have a good straight right

[contrivedname!]

hi pranaman,

 

my question would be what are the mechanics of the punch in the art you perform? where do you begin from? are there any types of arm "torque" that go on? do you shift your weight into your punches?